"You know, you both have done this test before, so you know that the point is to come at me together, right?" asked Kakashi as he faced off against Sakura. She found him remarkably fast, he thought. But then again, he wasn't trying his hardest. Not yet.

Meanwhile, Sakura stretched her body, not taking her eyes off her sensei. "We get the point," she replied, affecting an airy tone. "But we're just dying to show you how much we've grown individually before we team up and take you down."

"How confident you are! Your dear old sensei is a legend you know. Nations feared me almost as much as the Yellow Flash, back in the day."

Sakura smiled her most dangerous smile – a knowing one. "Oh, I know. That's one of the benefits of being apprenticed to the Hokage: you learn all sorts of things about people that no one else knows. My big forehead isn't for nothing. All of your recorded information is up here." She tapped her temple with a gloved finger, and then settled into a ready stance.

With a roar she burst forward and covered the distance between them, unleashing a barrage of punches that blurred in the air. Despite remembering the sad fate of his log, Kakashi's interest won out and he held his ground, eager to experience the full depth of his student's growth. The Sharingan in his eye whirled furiously as he predicted and perceived each strike, evading the blows he could and carefully deflecting the ones he couldn't. An unexpectedly sneaky blow to his briefly exposed chest forced him to bat her arm away instead of dodging it, but Sakura caught his wrist and was suddenly very much inside his personal space. She snaked herself around his arm and pulled back and down, attempting to rip his arm right out of its socket.

Unwilling to lose an arm just like that, Kakashi followed the force of her attack and backflipped, twisting slightly to deliver an armored uppercut to her chin through the small space available. It connected with a loud clang and Sakura's grip immediately slackened. Kakashi quickly backed away and worried that the blow may have been too dangerous for Sakura. It would have surely incapacitated the girl he taught two and a half years ago…

But Sakura was fine. In fact, she was more than fine. She was still upright and clearly unhurt, only looking somewhat confused. "What was that, Kakashi-sensei? Did you hit me? It felt like a snowflake landing on my skin."

Why that cheeky little – what the hell kind of training did Tsunade put her through? Kakashi wondered. He properly regarded the Sakura before him, fully absorbing every detail of her presence. She was no longer the little girl with relatively weak constitution, with only her intelligence and skill with chakra manipulation going for her. The young woman before him exuded athleticism, strength, endurance and confidence in her ability - a body and mind sharply honed to a level rarely seen in the Jonin ranks, let alone among her Chunin peers. Sakura caught him looking and laughed a little.

"You have no idea what I went through, Kakashi-sensei. Every day I trained under Tsunade I wanted to just lie down and die or kill myself for it to be finally over," Sakura reminisced with an almost out-of-place fondness in her voice.

Internally Kakashi disagreed. Even as a prodigy, the rigors of ANBU had made him want to die a few times himself. But he allowed that his student still gained many more levels now that he did at the time. She had a few more to gain, though, if she thought that talking would stay him from setting up his offensive. Buying a few more seconds for his preparations, Kakashi asked, "What pulled you through it?"

Sakura's voice was level, but Kakashi felt the weight of every word like an anvil on his chest: "Every second I was on my face, Sasuke walked further away from me. Every time I was knocked down on my ass, Naruto climbed another mountain. Every time I thought that I wanted to quit, I remembered the extent of your new training schedule, Kakashi-sensei, and how hard you were working for me. For us.

"And every time I forced myself to get back up, I felt myself change. Let me tell you, Kakashi-sensei, I'm not the weak, silly girl I was before. I've stripped all of that weakness away and replaced it-"

At that moment two hands burst out from the ground and wrapped around her ankles. Underground, Kakashi activated the same technique he used against Sasuke years prior and attempted to drag Sakura into the dirt until only her head was above the surface. Perhaps he would get points for irony? That was ironic, right?

But try as he might, Kakashi couldn't budge Sakura an inch. He pulled with all of his chakra enhanced might, but she moved not a single millimeter. On the surface, Sakura smiled savagely at the Kakashi she faced, then reared a fist back, completing her sentence with a roar.

"- I replaced it with strength!"

Everything exploded when her fist hit the ground. Kakashi beneath her feet was vaporized, and the real Kakashi that was standing away from her was forced to leap into the sky as the earth heaved to and fro until it shattered with a deafening sound. He marveled at the display of raw power below him. Everything in at least a two hundred meter radius was demolished. It's as if some giant beast had burst from the forest floor and threw a tantrum in the area. Before he could express his admiration properly, the dust parted and Sakura shot up to him like a glowing blue comet, preparing to land a devastating axe kick that would undoubtedly send him into the bowels of the earth.

Kakashi revised his opinion. Clearly Sakura needed fewer levels than he thought.

It was time to reveal one of his new techniques, Kakashi decided, before someone had the redraw the map of the area. Both of his hands exploded into clouds of lightning, and it made its way up until his arms were wreathed in the dense, cackling blue chakra. There was a bright flash as Sakura's heel came into contact with the shield. When the light dissipated, Sakura and Kakashi were back on the rubble that served as the ground, the former looking a little singed and the latter as calm and collected as always.

Sakura willed her body to move, but her muscles refused to obey her. She gritted her teeth in frustration. She had barely gotten started and she was already temporarily incapacitated. Grudging admiration for Kakashi wormed into her heart. She was well aware of his battle prowess, thank you very much. But seeing was believing. Kakashi was a powerful man years ago, and still when he taught her, but the Kakashi before her was more than that. Much more.

First Lady Tsunade, then Kakashi-sensei. She appreciated the opportunity to experience these legends firsthand.

For once in his life, Kakashi dispensed with his aloof attitude and spoke sincerely to his opponent. "You've come a long way, Sakura. I'm very proud of you."

Unable to move as she was, Sakura still nearly fell over in surprise. Kakashi wasn't so heartwarming... ever.

"Buuuuut… you still have a long way to go! See you!" And with that, Kakashi saluted lazily and sauntered off, ruining the moment.

Sakura regained enough control over herself to shriek at his retreating form, "When I find you, I will take that bell even if I have to rip your leg off! You hear me!?"

Kakashi thought about retorting, but decided against it; if he did, she just might decide to kill him instead.